Performance, Popular Culture, and Piety in Muslim Southeast Asia

The Muslim-majority nations of Malaysia and Indonesia are known for their extraordinary arts and Islamic revival movements. This collection provides an extensive view of dance, music, television series, and film in rural, urban, and mass-mediated contexts and how pious Islamic discourses are encoded and embodied in these public cultural forms. The Muslim-majority nations of Malaysia and Indonesia are famous for their extraordinary arts and Islamic revival movements. Using ethnographic methods to analyze performance text, social and historical context, and local perspectives, the contributors to this volume address how pious notions and practices intersect with contemporary religio-ethical projects and sociopolitical dynamics. This collection provides an extensive view of dance, music, television series, and film in rural, urban, and mass-mediated contexts and how pious Islamic discourses are encoded and embodied in these public cultural forms Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction: Performance, Popular Culture, and Piety in Malaysia and Indonesia....Pages 1-12 Performing Piety from the Inside Out: Fashioning Gender and Public Space in a Mask “Tradition” from Java’s Northwest Coast....Pages 13-43 Islamic Revivalism and Religious Piety in Indonesian Cinema....Pages 45-75 Embodying the Divine and the Body Politic: Mak Yong Performance in Rural Kelantan, Malaysia....Pages 77-103 “Islamic” TV Dramas, Malay Youth, and Pious Visions for Malaysia....Pages 105-133 Complicating Senses of Masculinity, Femininity, and Islam through the Performing Arts in Malang, East Java....Pages 135-160 Social Drama, Dangdut, and Popular Culture....Pages 161-177 Afterword: Commentary....Pages 179-187 Back Matter....Pages 189-226 "This volume focuses on performing arts, popular culture and piety in the Muslim-majority nations of Malaysia and Indonesia, both known for their extraordinary arts and Islamic revival movements. This collection provides an extensive view of dance, music, television series and film in rural, urban, and mass-mediated contexts and how pious Islamic discourses are encoded and embodied in these public cultural forms. Together the authors adopt ethnographic methods--analyzing performance text, social and historical context and local perspectives--to address how pious notions and practices intersect with contemporary religio-ethical projects and sociopolitical dynamics"--Provided by publisher.